Surprising Love
by NewlyWrittenBeginnings
Summary: AU...sort of. After a job oppurtunity persents itself for Misato, Asuka finds herself being forced into a new school, but soon finds a budding friendship with a shy boy, Shinji. But their world is soon turned upside down after a cataclysmic event rocks th
1. Chapter 1

Surprising Love

**Authors note:**

There is something I need to tell you people before you start reading. Asuka will be a little out of character, or a lot depending on your point of view, but as the story goes I'll try to keep her in character as much as possible but we'll see. Now read and enjoy, and Shinji might be as well but I'll try my best promise! One more thing this maybe kinda weird but its going to set place before, during and after second impact, if you know what I mean. Because I haven't seen anything other than the original 26 episodes so I have don't know a dang thing about 3rd impact other than it occurs so yeah. You guys know where I am going with this now enough with this bloody authors note and on with the story!

Chapter 1: New School

Disclaimer: NGE doesn't belong to me.

A car slowly pulled up into the school drop off zone. Its red paint glinting in the sun's light. The passenger door opened and a young red haired girl stepped out her dull blue eyes eyeing her new school wearily. _So this is where I'm going to be now? Great._ She thought sarcastically. She then looked down at what appeared to be an endless pool of students with weary as well.

Slamming the car door shut she then turning to the car. Bending down she peered through the window and looked at the young purpled haired driver.

"Bye Misato." She said her voice dull, somewhat angry.

"Bye Asuka." She replied. With that Asuka turned on her heel and walked away, disappearing in the endless crowd of students, Misato watching her until her bright red hair was lost from view. She sighed heavily. "Please let Asuka be okay, and help her find someone that'll be there for her." She then looked up and said, "Please?" Lowering her head she turned to the crowd of kids once again for a second before looking forward and stepping on the gas.

Asuka shoved her way through the crowd causing several to yell at her. She ignored them and continued forward shoving a tall, athletic boy out of her way.

"Hey watch where you're going!" He yelled, pushing her as she walked past him.

Asuka stumbled for a second before catching her balance and turning to him. "Then maybe you shouldn't stand in the way of people!" She yelled back, her dull blue eyes suddenly turning sharp and angry. The guy froze for a second before turning away with a humph and walking away.

Asuka laughed inwardly. _Pathetic._ She thought.

Continuing forward Asuka pushed her way through more kids, causing several more remarks to be thrown at her, until finally she reached the main entrance door. Grabbing the handle she swung the door open and was met with a chilling breeze. She shivered somewhat and walked inside.

She looked around and was surprised to find that the hallway was practically empty. _So that would explain why the school seems so packed, everyone is outside. _She shivered again and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. _No wonder, its so freaking cold in here. _She thought.

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a small sheet of paper, a list of numbers displayed on it. "So first period is room 006." She said quietly to herself. Looking up she began walking forward and scanned the numbers of each classroom she walked past.

She looked for several minutes her eyes, drifting back and forth as she looked from one classroom to the next until she finally found it. Reaching for the handle she suddenly found it pulled out of her reach and found herself face to face with a young, brown haired girl. Asuka stared at her for a second before a hand was placed in front of her.

"Hi, you must be Asuka." The girl said her voice kind and sweet. "My name is Hikari."

A look of confusion passed over Asuka's face. "How do you know my name?"

"I'm class representative, so I usually like to know who is coming and going." A look of understanding replaced Asuka's confused one.

"Oh okay." She said and took Hikari's hand. Hikari smiled at her. "So then if your class rep, do you know where my seat is?" Hikari nodded.

"It's the one right behind that boy over there." She replied pointing to a young blacked haired boy, who was currently engaged in a conversation with a brown haired boy with large glasses and a familiar athletic boy. "Shinji could you please raise your hand?" she asked. He complied. "Right behind him Asuka."

"Thank you." Asuka replied.

"Your welcome." Hikari said. "Thank you Shinji!"

"Your welcome." He replied quietly before turning away from her and rejoining the conversation.

Asuka pulled her school bag off her shoulder and sat down. She sighed heavily as she looked around the classroom only to find it was still half empty. She looked up at the clock to find that she still had ten minutes till class started. She grumbled under her breath.

_And Misato said I would be late. _She thought to herself. _I could've gotten another ten minutes of sleep. _A sudden jerk out of the corner of her eye brought her out of her thoughts.

She looked up to find that the three boys in front of her were arguing about who the hottest girl in school was, well two of them were. The boy in front of her just seemed to be watching with little interest as they butted heads. It was almost comical watching them.

_Perverts. _She thought as she watched. She then heard the boy in front of her make a small comment of girls looks not mattering that it was their personality that really mattered. She was somewhat surprised when she found that one of the two rounded on him telling him that there looks were all that mattered.

_Yep definitely perverts. _She thought, her eyes drifting to the boys in front of her. _Maybe with the exception of this one, but I doubt it. All men are pigs._ She then recognized the one of the boys. _He that was the jerk from this morning!_ She was about to get up and clobber him when Hikari's voice suddenly interrupted her.

"Hey Touji knock it off!" Hikari yelled.

Asuka turned her to where Hikari's voice was directed at to find that the "jerk from this morning" was getting so caught up in the argument and was standing on his desk yelling at Shinji the reasons looks only mattered.

Touji looked over at Hikari to find her glaring at him. "What's with the look rep?" He asked referring to the angry glare she was directing at him.

"For one thing you can't be standing on the desk like that and two I will NOT allow perverted comments like that to be thrown around!" She yelled.

Asuka looked over at Touji to find a sudden look of embarrassment appear on his face. "You heard that?" Hikari hardened her glare. Touji jumped down and sat down. "Sorry I guess I just got to caught up in the conversation." He said apologetically.

"Just don't say it again." She replied.

Asuka looked between them with confusion. _Did I miss something? _She thought.

The school bell suddenly rang signaling five minutes till start time. A line of kids began flowing into the classroom until slowly every seat was filled. Then another bell rang and Asuka watched as Hikari stood up and started class telling everyone to stand up, bow and sit.

"Alright as most of you have noticed we have a new student." She motioned everyone to where Asuka was sitting and then motioned her to stand up. "This is Asuka Langley Soryu." Asuka felt all eyes suddenly turn on her. "She has recently transferred her from Germany."

Asuka looked around the room to find, to her disgust, almost every boy wink at her or pretend to whistle at her. She felt her hands tighten. She really could not stand perverts. She had to force herself to not clobber every guy in her sight. She instead settled for another sharp, angry glare. Though it didn't really work. She felt her hands tighten tighter.

"Asuka will need a guide to help her find her way around the school are there any volunteers?" Hikari asked, she saw almost every guys hand shoot up into the air. Much to Asuka's disgust. Hikari looked around the room and overlooked every guy, knowing how bad each one was, and it was apparent that the girls really didn't care.

She sighed inwardly as she searched for an ideal candidate. Her eyes scanned the room avoiding the flailing arms of the boys until her eyes landed on just the perfect boy. Well, maybe not the perfect boy, but a one far better than most of the others. Not only that but she had a good feeling about the two of them though she didn't know why she just did.

"Shinji!" Hikari called, causing several groans to be heard throughout the classroom.

Shinji turned his head. "Yeah?" He asked apparently not really listening.

"Shinji could you please show Asuka around after school?" she asked.

"Yeah sure." He replied causing several more groans to be heard. He looked around him wondering why they were all groaning.

"Thank you Shinji." Hikari said. Shinji nodded. "You can sit down Asuka." Asuka obeyed.

After that class passed quite quickly and was uneventful for Asuka, the only things really bothering her were the stares of several guys, which she just returned with sharp glares, causing many to turn away quickly. Asuka smirked each time a guy turned. _Well at least their starting to stop now. _She thought.

She never could understand why most guys acted tough but when it really came down to it were complete cowards. She really hated guys like that. They almost bugged her as much as perverted ones, almost.

When the bell suddenly rang Asuka stood up quickly and bolted out of the room. Although the class had gone by rather fast she wasn't sure how much longer she could take the teachers boring lesson. That and the constant stares of all the guys, even though her glares were starting to work it was apparent that most couldn't resist to look at her and continued to stare at her. It infuriated her so much.

Once outside she looked around for a place to eat by herself, and found the place to be a lone tree several yards away from the main lunch area. She quickly walked over there before anyone else decided to steal it. Sitting down she leaned her head up against the tree for a second enjoying the shade it provided before pulling her pack to her and searched for her lunch.

After several seconds of searching she realized that her guardian, Misato, had forgotten to pack her lunch. She groaned and felt her stomach rumble. She patted her stomach as she leaned her head back against the tree. She closed her eyes and tried to keep her mind off her rumbling stomach, but to no avail.

_I guess I really shouldn't of skipped breakfast. _She thought.

For several minutes she tried to fight her increasing hunger until she felt a presence in front of her. Opening her eyes and swinging her head forward she met eyes with whoever was in front of her and was surprised to find that it was Shinji, his hand holding out a small plastic bowl a cover hiding the contents inside.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you, but I saw that you didn't have any food and I thought that you would like some of mine. I have an extra bowl so I though you would want it." Shinji said his voice somewhat shy and uncertain. He wasn't really sure she would believe him.

Asuka eyed him for a second not sure whether he was telling the truth. "Why would you do this? Trying to get some points with the new girl or are you trying to take advantage of the new girl by acting like some kind guy who later will try to make some moves on her?" she asked waiting for his reaction.

"No, no, no it's nothing like that, I just thought you were hungry and would like some food." He replied. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Asuka asked an eyebrow raised at him. "There is nothing to be sorry for. If you were really trying to do a good thing that is."

"I was really." He said sincerely.

"Okay then you have nothing to be sorry for." She replied before reaching out and taking the bowl. "And thank you."

He smiled a relieved smile at her. "You're welcome." He was about to turn and walk away when she called out to him.

"Hey who was this for anyway?" She asked.

"It was for one of my friends but Hikari had prepared food for him, so I decided that I should give it to you, seeing that you weren't eating." He replied.

Asuka gave him a suspicious look. "Were you watching me?"

Shinji shook his head quickly. "No!" He yelled a little louder than he wanted. He looked down out of embarrassment. "I mean no, I just looked over at the tree and I saw that you threw away your bag so I assumed that you had no food."

Asuka laughed at his reaction. "I'm just joking with you. You should learn to relax."

Shinji nodded. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing will you? There's nothing to be sorry for." She said. Shinji nodded his head. Asuka looked down at the bowl and opened the top and was surprised to have a mouth watering smell reach her nose. "This smells really good." She looked down at the combination of rice, beef, and vegetables and was surprised how good it looked.

Reaching into her bag she pulled out something Shinji had rarely seen in Japan, a fork. _Well she is from Germany so it really shouldn't be all that surprising. _He thought.

Asuka then dug her fork into the food and took a bite and looked up at Shinji. He looked at her worriedly.

"What is it not good?" He asked

Asuka didn't reply for a second and then shook her head. "No this is great! Who made it?" she asked stuffing her face.

"I-I did." Shinji replied.

Asuka looked at him with somewhat of a shocked look. "You seriously made this?" Shinji nodded. "Where did you learn to cook like this?"

"Well my father really isn't home all that often so I kind of have to fend for myself, so I taught myself how to cook." He said shyly.

"Well it's very good."

"Thank you." He replied somewhat embarrassed.

"Hey why don't you join me for lunch?" She said motioning for him to sit next to her.

Shinji stared at her for a moment before walking over to her and sitting down. He then opened his own bag and pulled out his own lunch.

The two sat in silence as they ate, quietly enjoying there meals. The silence was only broken when Asuka finished hers and spoke, "Hey Shinji you wouldn't mind cooking for me would you? I'm afraid that my guardian doesn't cook so well, you have to have an iron stomach to with stand her cooking."

"Yeah, that's kind of how my father cooks when he's home." Shinji said. The two laughed lightly before Shinji's face saddened.

Asuka noticed this and said, "Hey don't worry about it, my guardian is gone for hours, even days at a time. It's nothing you need to be sad about. It's just something adults like to do for whatever reason."

"Yeah but you don't understand my father is almost never home, and when he is he's there for dinner or for a few minutes or something." Shinji said his look getting even sadder, but Asuka noticed his hands also tightening into fists. "He's gone for several days to weeks to even months at a time. He is never home."

Asuka looked away from him, understanding what he meant. "I know how you feel." She said quietly, Shinji almost didn't hear her.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Realizing he had heard her she replied, "Never mind just forget about." She looked back at him. "It's nothing."

"Okay." He replied deciding to respect her and not push the subject.

Another silence passed between the two, both not really knowing what to say. They stayed that way until the bell rang seemingly snapping them out of their silence.

"So will I see you after school?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah." She replied. She saw Shinji smile slightly.

"Okay bye." He said as he ran off toward "the jerk from this morning" and his other friend.

Asuka watched him go for a second before looking down at the plastic bowl in her hand. _So maybe not all guys are jerks. _She thought. She looked up from the bowl and walked toward the next class.

The day seemed to move much slower than both her first hour class, which was more like three classes crammed into one making it three and a half hours long, and lunch. She wasn't quite sure why it was moving so slowly, her only guess was that she wanted to get home badly or because if she listened to this teacher's lesson any longer she was gonna die. The only thing she knew was that the day was moving incredible slow. She had to stop herself from looking at her watch every five seconds.

Then an eternity later the bell finally rang and she nearly flew out of her seat heading towards the door. She walked down the hallway quickly and was about to walk out the door when she remembered that she had to meet Shinji. Turning on her heel she walked away from the door.

She walked back to her first hour class and found Shinji waiting for her. He gave her a polite wave. "So where are we going first?" She asked.

"Well there are only three main halls so I guess we can start with this one?" he said a little nervous.

Noticing the slight nervous tone in his voice Asuka asked, "Why are you nervous?"

Shinji looked back up at her somewhat surprised that she noticed. "Ummm because this is the first time I've done this so yeah." Asuka looked at him oddly but shook it off. "Anyways we should start."

For a half an hour Shinji lead Asuka down the hallways of the relatively small school, showing her the classrooms and places she might need to go to or use in the future. Such as the school office, newspaper, and supply store. As they toured the school the two struck up several conversations all of which helped Shinji get a little more relaxed around her. Although most of the conversations were a little one sided, mainly Shinji allowed Asuka talk barely saying any words himself, but the two seemed to enjoy their conversations regardless of how one sided it was.

Shinji walked with Asuka toward the school drop off zone, a bright red car seemingly waited for them. Asuka quickly recognized the car as Misato's and turned to Shinji, "Hey thanks for the tour." She said, waving, before walking off towards Misato's car.

Asuka opened the car door and sat inside, her purpled haired guardian looking at her. "So how was school?"

Asuka turned to her with a different demeanor than what she wore in the morning. Her eyes didn't look quite so dull. "It was fine. Although I found that my school is full of perverted and pig headed guys." She said irritated at the thought. "But other than that it was fine."

"Is that it?" Misato asked somewhat disappointed. Asuka nodded. Misato sighed inwardly. She had hoped Asuka met some people or made some friends, but apparently not. Misato looked back up at Asuka quickly scanning her eyes. _But then why are her eyes brighter? _She thought. She shook her head and decided not to dwell on it; after all it was only the first day of school.

**Okay that ends chapter one. Now if anyone has any suggestions or constructive criticism for me it would be much appreciated, and if I'm moving to fast or something please tell me. Ok I'll try to get out the next chap as fast as I can unless I get lazy or something. Well until next time and CC is appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Closer

Disclaimer: don't own NGE

A loud buzzing rang throughout a small room causing a person buried beneath two blankets to stir somewhat. The person shoved a pillow on top of their head in an attempt to drown out the noise but much to their disappointment the buzzing seemed to get louder. Suddenly a hand flew out from under the blankets, sending the annoyance into the wall, but much to their disappointment kept ringing. A loud groan erupted from beneath the blankets and slowly the figure sat up.

"Urgh whoever invented the alarm clock needs to be shot." Groaned a tired Asuka. She sat up her hair matted and messy. She looked groggily around the room for the infernal noise maker before getting up and throwing it against the wall. Much to her surprise it didn't break, nor did it even dent. She looked at it with surprise. "How the?" She thought in wonder.

Picking up the clock again she once again threw it against the wall several times and it still didn't have a scratch. For several minutes she repeated this process. Pick up, slam, stand in amazement. Pick up, slam, stand in amazement. She couldn't figure out why the thing didn't break.

As she continued to do this her door was suddenly thrown open with a disheveled Misato standing in her doorway. "Asuka stop! I'm trying to get some sleep!" she yelled.

Asuka looked back at her, her body in the motion of throwing the clock against the wall again, and gave sort of a pout. "Come on Misato its fun."

"I don't care Asuka I have to get my sleep or I'll never be able to function." Just then her own alarm went off. She sighed heavily. "Oh well I guess it doesn't matter. Didn't realize I set my alarm so early." She turned and began walking away. "Have fun Asuka just be ready by the time I want to leave, oh and by the way if you're trying to break that clock, you won't. Toughest plastic there is, so don't even try." She then mumbled something about not having to spend a fortune on clocks anymore. Asuka shrugged before returning to her fun.

Ten minutes later Asuka stepped into the bathroom, much to her displeasure, and started up the shower. She really did not want to go back to that school. She missed her old one. She knew people there and was comfortable. The guys there weren't jerks, well as much as guys couldn't be, but still they were better. They didn't sit there and slobber over you just because of how you looked. Nor did they hit on you just because you're the new girl.

She also had friends and people she loved back at her old school. Here she was practically alone. The only people here that showed her any kindness or respect were Hikari and Shinji. Two out of how many two-three hundred?

She sighed heavily as she stepped into the shower. "Why did Misato have to take that stupid job anyway? It didn't really offer her more than what she already had, except maybe an extra two days vacation. What is so good about it that she had to move us half way across the country?" She said quietly to herself. She really couldn't understand why she did that. Even when Misato explained to her why they were moving she gave a very obscure picture of her new job. She seemed to want to avoid going into specific details. It was almost as if she herself hardly knew anything.

Although Asuka refused and fought as much as she could Misato's age and guardianship over her won out in the end. She forced Asuka to go. _And that is why I am stuck here_. She thought to herself. _I really don't want to be here. _

A sudden knock at the bathroom door caused Asuka to jump. "Asuka come on we have to go, you're going to be late!" Misato yelled, her voice muffled by the door.

"What?! I just got in here!" She yelled back.

"Asuka you've been in there for twenty minutes you need to get out or you're going to be late!" Misato yelled again her voice sounding impatient.

Asuka growled loudly. "Alright fine be out in a minute!" She quickly sped through the rest of her shower.

The car pulled up to the school drop off zone, Asuka noticing the school wasn't nearly as crowded as yesterday. She looked down at the car clock and much to her annoyance was flashing 12:00 like a VCR. She growled inwardly. Shaking her head she stepped out of the car and slammed the door behind her. "Bye Misato." She said as she walked backwards toward the school.

"Bye Asuka!" Misato replied before driving off in a flash.

Asuka turned toward the school and grimaced somewhat. She really didn't want to be here. She thought about ditching for a second but figured that would do her more harm than good, so instead she decided to walk around the school again, retracing the path she and Shinji took.

For several minutes Asuka walked around the school finding herself becoming more and more bored as the minutes passed by. The school was so dull when no one was around, especially since she didn't even know anyone at the school. The only people she knew anyway were Shinji and Hikari and they weren't even here. Besides she wasn't even sure that they really wanted to get to know her. After all Hikari was class rep so it was probably her job and Shinji was probably trying to be nice. That is if he didn't have some underlying motives, and the shy boy was just a façade for the real him A guy who takes advantage of the new girl with a nice act but doesn't really mean it, and has other motives. She wouldn't be surprised.

Just then, as she turned a corner, she found herself watching Shinji ride up toward the school on a bike, his demeanor didn't look any different then the day before. She felt an odd feeling in her chest. It felt like guilt.

She stopped walking and watched him pull his bike up to the bike lot, dismount, and lock up his bike. He walked out of the lot in a somewhat of a hurried pace toward the school causing Asuka to raise an eyebrow at him. What was he doing here so early? She decided to follow him in order to find out. Besides she had nothing better to do.

She walked rather quickly in order to catch up to him but found she didn't really need to as he had stopped for a second to help one of the few people at the school pick up their books which had flown out all over the ground. She was surprised by this somewhat. She felt guilt spring up in her chest again. She didn't understand why she felt guilty. It's not like she really insulted him or something.

_You misjudged him_. A part of her said. She sighed inwardly. "Whatever." She said to herself before walking after him again as he was on the move.

He opened the main building doors, causing a cold breeze to blow out causing Shinji to shiver visibly though it was only slightly. Asuka hurried after him hoping to catch the door before it closed but as her luck had it shut before she could reach it. She cursed under her breath.

Grabbing the handle she threw the door open causing another cold breeze to blow out the door. She too shivered. _Why does it keep doing that?! _She thought. Shaking the thought off she again walked after him.

She went a little way before he finally stopped in front of their classroom, and stepping inside. She peeked through the small window that was in the door and watched as he set his stuff down upon his desk before looking around the room. She watched him with curiosity. He then surprised her.

She saw him disappear for a moment and then reappear with a broom and several other cleaning supplies. He swept the floor for several minutes before dusting the desks. She wondered why he did this. She thought all of this was done after school, but apparently not. As she watched him she again felt guilt in her chest causing her to grow irritated. _What is with all this guilt? _She thought. _You missed judged him_. A part of her said. She groaned inwardly. _Should misjudging him cause me this much guilt?!_ She screamed in her head.

Deciding it was best to get the stupid thoughts out of her head she grabbed the door handle and threw it open. Shinji looked at her in surprise. "Asuka, what are you doing here?"

"Its school I'm supposed to be here." A look of disgust flashed across her face as she said it.

He shook his head. "No I mean what are you doing here so early?"

Asuka scowled somewhat. "My guardian dropped me off this early in fear that I was going to be late." She scoffed as she thought about it. "In fact I was well beyond on time, but she didn't believe me." Shinji nodded in agreement before turning and beginning to sweep up the room. Asuka raised her eyebrow at him and watched as he worked. "So why are you here so early exactly?" she asked, continuing to watch him.

Shinji shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Well I guess so I can help clean up the room."

"Why would you want to do that? The room is usually clean after school right?" Asuka asked. "I mean that is how the class is; someone is assigned to clean it after school, right?" Shinji shrugged again.

"I guess so, but I just like to clean." He replied. Asuka raised an eyebrow at the boy.

What kind of kid would actually want to clean? Cleaning was something you did when you got in trouble not because you actually liked doing it, but apparently here was an exception. This boy liked to clean and it was a boy no less! It didn't make sense. Asuka now wondered if the boy was right in the head…

"So you're here this early in the morning just because you like to clean?" Asuka asked continuing to watch the boy work. He nodded and kept working. Asuka shook her head not understanding why but hey she guessed everybody needed a hobby.

"There is also another reason I kind of do this and it's that the kids don't do a good job. They do it quickly to go home, so I usually clean up after them so they don't get in trouble." Shinji said.

"Why do you care?" Asuka asked. "If they only do half of the work then they should get in trouble for it. I mean they made the choice to do it not you, so you really shouldn't clean up for them."

"Yeah, but this is just the nice thing to do…" Shinji replied his last words trailing.

Asuka scoffed somewhat. "It might be the nice thing to do but if you keep doing it they're going to take advantage of you and leave everything to you." This caused Shinji to stop for a moment but then he quickly returned to work. Asuka shook her head again. "You're just gonna let them walk all over them aren't you?"

Shinji stopped again before turning to her. "But they're not walking over me. They'd have to actually be controlling me…or something." He trailed off again, not entirely sure how to defend himself.

"Shinji there are other ways that a person can manipulate you." Asuka said. "They may just leave it knowing full well that you'll be here to clean it up. Its one of the indirect approaches to do things. They're not just gonna go and tell you if they don't want to." Shinji continued to work as though he hadn't even heard her. Asuka sighed exasperatedly. "Ok listen, sometimes it's a good thing to help people but you can't go around doing it all the time or they will take advantage of you ok?"

Shinji stopped and looked at her. "Okay but its just that I like to clean and I can't help it, so the way I see it they aren't really because this is something I want to do." He replied.

Asuka shook her head and the room went silent. Asuka sat quietly staring at Shinji as he moved desk after desk out of the way as he swept under them. She debated within herself whether to help him or not. Her lazy side didn't want to help but the more how do you say, pride did. She thought that he or other someone else would think of her badly for not helping him.

For several more seconds she dwelled on these thoughts. Sighing she made up her mind and went into the closet grabbed a broom and proceeded to sweep. Shinji looked up at her in confusion.

"You know you don't have to help, I can do this by myself." Shinji protested as Asuka began sweeping.

"Listen I know you can do this yourself but I'm gonna help you anyway." She replied. Shinji stood there for a second, somewhat surprised. He then smiled slightly and continued himself.

Neither of the two spoke as they cleaned up the room. A peaceful silence went between them except for the occasional screech of a desk being moved out of the way. The silence continued until Hikari walked into the room.

"Hey Shinji." She said as she walked toward her desk only to find that it wasn't there. She looked around the room to find it tucked in a corner behind several desks. "Shinji did you move my desk over there?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, I think Asuka did it."

"Asuka?" Shinji nodded. "Wow, you mean someone other than me is helping you in the mornings?"

"Yeah it would seem that way."

Hikari looked around the room for a second. "Hey, Shinji where is Asuka?" Shinji looked up from his sweeping and looked around himself.

"I don't know. She was here a minute ago." Suddenly a storm of coughing and sneezing erupted from the broom closet. Hikari and Shinji both quickly turned around to find Asuka flying out of the closet sneezing like no other. The two watched her oddly as this continued for a couple of minutes.

When she finally stopped a long line of foreign words escaped her mouth. The two continued to watch her as she yelled at the closet in her odd language. They raised an eyebrow at her trying their best to decode the language but found that it was pointless. For several more minutes she cursed at the closet or rather something in the closet. When the flurry was finally over the two stared at her in confusion.

"What are you two staring at?!" She snapped.

The two quickly shook their heads. "Nothing, we just wanted to know what happened." Hikari replied.

Asuka growled loudly. "Those freaking erasers happened!" Hikari raised an eyebrow at her. "I tried cleaning them then all of a sudden the things sent out a wave of dust!" She growled again. She then heard Hikari start laughing loudly, even Shinji was letting out a small chuckle. "What are you two laughing at?"

"You Asuka" She said as she laughed.

Asuka scowled somewhat before speaking, "Whatever, lets just get back to work." Hikari nodded.

For the next twenty minutes the three finished the room, a good amount of conversation going between Asuka and Hikari as Shinji listened intently, saying very little. As Shinji listened to the two's conversing he found that the two seemed to get along very well. They had a lot in common. Shinji smiled a little. Asuka had only been here a day and now it seemed was starting to form a strong friendship with Hikari. He was happy for her; he knew how she felt being here by herself. After all he had moved here when he was younger and knew how lonely it could be to not know anyone.

The bell suddenly rang snapping Shinji out of his thoughts. A few seconds later a crowd of kids flooded through the door and took to their seats. Hikari and Asuka's conversation came to an abrupt halt as Hikari now took over the class with, what seemed to be, the normal morning greeting of up, bow, sit. After that the class simmered down as the teacher began his lecture, now leaving Shinji to his own thoughts.

Shinji stared blankly at the teacher, trying his best to concentrate on the teacher's lesson but found it all but impossible to pay attention to the never ending lecture. Finally after ten minutes of endless staring Shinji began looking aimlessly around the room, his eyes landed on Asuka. For several seconds Shinji stared at Asuka trying to figure out what country she was from because it was completely obvious she wasn't a native. He knew Hikari had said where she was from but he wasn't really listening, so he attempted to figure it out just by her bright red hair and her blue eyes.

He continued to gaze at the red head and found that she was rather attractive. Her red hair seemed to match perfectly with her blue eyes. She had a perfect face. A motion suddenly drew his attention away from her. He looked across the room to find Touji winking at him and pointed to Asuka. Shinji's face immediately flushed. He hadn't realized that he had been staring for so long. He mentally smacked himself over and over.

He really hadn't meant to stare. He hoped that she didn't notice otherwise she might think him perverted. He didn't want that. He hated people like that. They had no respect for a girl. They only cared about one thing, and he hated that. He wished that guys could just respect a girl for being who she was not for her……curves.

He glanced back at Asuka to find her nodding off, her head jerking up every so often as she tried to keep herself awake. He smiled slightly to himself as she did this before turning away from her and once again trying to focus on the teacher.

A loud obnoxious ringing woke Asuka abruptly. Her arm suddenly swung through the air as if trying to hit the snooze button, but when she found none she looked up tiredly. Looking around she found herself in the classroom and not in her room. A confused look appeared on her face. She attempted to figure out where she was then suddenly mentally smacked herself.

_Dang bell, made me think I was in my room, sleeping._ She thought. Quickly she looked around the room suddenly remembering she had swung her arm around crazily in an attempt to find an alarm to turn off. Luckily the class was empty, even the teacher wasn't in the room anymore. She let out a small breath of relief. _That could've been embarrassing. _

Getting up she hurriedly walked outside. As she walked outside she put her hands in the air and stretched before walking toward the tree she sat at the day before. Sitting down she pulled up her bag and began searching through it. Much to her delight this time her guardian had packed her lunch. She opened the small plastic container that held it and stared at it, obviously shocked. _What……IS THIS!? _She thought to herself in disgust. She quickly threw it away. Why did she even bother? She knew better than to trust Misato's cooking. It was the worst death you could ever experience. Slow and VERY painful.

Asuka's head dropped. She was going to starve. Yep. She was going to starve. She groaned inwardly. Why didn't she eat breakfast!? Oh yeah because Misato didn't let her. _Dang it all, it's all her fault._ She thought to herself. She slammed her head into the tree, silently hoping that maybe somebody, anybody, would come and give her some food. She doubted it though.

She then closed her eyes and attempted to take her mind off the hunger pain. It wasn't working all that well. She sighed and looked forward to suddenly find Shinji standing in front of her. He looked surprised and somewhat shocked like she caught him in the act of some wrong doing. The two stared at each other for a second before Asuka spoke.

"Hey Shinji, what are you doing?" Asuka asked, eyeing him somewhat suspiciously. Although Asuka thought that she could trust Shinji at leas a little bit, she still had to be a little wary. She didn't know him enough to trust him fully. For all she knew this could still be an act.

Shinji looked at her nervously, "Um, I just wanted to know if you would like to have this." He said, holding out a small bowl that was similar to what she had yesterday.

Asuka stared at him a little bit longer. Shinji visible tensed. It was plain to see that she was making him uncomfortable. He looked like he was doubting coming over to her. Asuka continued to stare until she spoke, "Shinji have you been watching me?" she asked.

Shinji shook his head quickly in response. "No! I just looked over here and saw you were without food again…" He replied quietly. "I wasn't watching you honest! It's just that I wanted to make sure you had something to eat this time." His voice began to trail as he finished speaking. He really didn't know what to say. He lowered his head and looked down at his feet, seemingly ashamed. "I'm sorry." He said quietly.

Spinning around he began to walk away when Asuka suddenly called out to him. "Hey, where are you going?" Shinji turned and looked at her in a mild confusion. "Aren't you going to give me that?" She asked, pointing to the small bowl he held in his hand.

Shinji looked between the bowl and Asuka as if thinking whether he should give it to her or not. After about a second or two it seemed the side that wanted Asuka to have it won out. He walked back to her and gave it to her. She took it gratefully, giving him silent thanks.

As Shinji began to walk away he suddenly thought of something. Tentatively he turned back to her and asked, "Hey, um Asuka." Asuka looked up at him showing him he had her attention. "I wanted to know if you wanted to come and sit with my friends and me? I'm sure they wouldn't mind, and I don't think you want to sit by yourself all the time." Shinji dropped eye contact with Asuka as he spoke. He found himself wondering if it was a good idea to even bring it up. "If you want of course." He added.

Asuka looked up in thought for a moment and then spoke, "Sure, why not?" Shinji looked up at her with a small smile on his face. "But on one condition."

"What?"

"Keep that jerk Tonji or whatever his name is away from me." She said. There was a clear distaste for the named boy in her voice. Shinji smiled slightly. He then nodded and began walking toward the table where he normally sat at.

Asuka followed behind him, and began thinking to herself why this boy would do this for her. Why would he be so willing to give her food and invite her to eat with his friends? Why would this seemingly shy, boy want to help her? He barely knew her and yet he wanted to open his heart to her and help her. But why? She wondered if it was all just an act. As far as she knew he could've been, but if that was true then he must be one heck of an actor. She really thought he was a shy, soft spoken boy. It even showed in his eyes, the most revealing part of the heart. As what many people called it the entrance to the soul. So if it wasn't an act was this boy really a kind person? she wondered.

Asuka was pulled out of her thoughts when Shinji's voice rang through her head. "Asuka, you ok?"

Asuka turned to him and spoke, "Yeah, I'm perfect. Now what do you say we eat." She sat down and started eating, finding that once again Shinji's cooking to be one of the best things she had ever tasted.

As she ate, the small group around her, consisting of her, Shinji, Hikari, Touji, and a boy in large glasses who she recognized as one of his friends from earlier but she didn't think she ever caught his name. She stared at him for a second before he spoke, "Hi, names Kensuke." He said a small smile on his face.

"Asuka." She replied.

"Ok now that introductions are done, who here wants to come with me to the library?" Hikari said. "I need some help getting some research for the up coming project we have." The group all raised eyebrows at her.

"Project?" Touji asked. "What project?" He clearly looked confused. It showed that he wondered if the girl was right in the head.

"We're going to have a project in our history class about Europe tomorrow, so I wanted to get started early."

"How the freak do you know that?"

"There are perks to being class representative." She said smiling.

"Explain to me how that is a perk? You don't even know what country you're doing." He said.

"You choose your own." She said. Then suddenly in a flash she grabbed his ear and began dragging him toward the school library. Small grunts of pain escaped Touji's mouth as he was slowly pulled from his seat and then toward the library.

"Hikari!" He yelled in protest. "Girl, what are you doing? Why do I have to go with you?"

"With your grades Touji, do I really have to answer that question? Not only that but we're able to work on it together so I can help you with this." She replied. He ripped his ear from her grasp and grumbled something before following her, knowing he didn't have much of a choice. "Bye guys! See you tomorrow!" She yelled back behind her.

"Yeah, bye" Touji said quietly, clearly not liking the predicament he was forced into.

An awkward silence came over the three remaining, each one not really knowing what to say. After all they hardly knew each other. The only ones that actually knew each other were Kensuke and Shinji but they were hardly speaking.

"Dang how are you two friends?" Asuka said. She was somewhat confused as to why they weren't talking. "I mean shouldn't you two be talking more than you are now."

"We are friends it's just that we don't have much to talk about today." Kensuke said. "Its just one of those days."

"If you say so." She said.

"Well I should probably get working on that project too." Kensuke stood up and gathered his stuff together. "See ya tomorrow Shinji."

"See ya." Kensuke then turned and walked away.

Asuka turned to Shinji and spoke, "Wow, looks like all your friends ditched you."

"Its nothing I'm not used to." He said quietly to himself. Asuka looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

He looked up at her, surprised that she had heard him. "Nothing. Just thinking out loud."

"Alright." Asuka said. She could tell he didn't want to talk about it. It was apparently something that was a little painful to him. She didn't want to push the boy after all he was one of the few that was actually being friendly to her.

"So do you know what you're going to do for the project?" Shinji asked, attempting to start some conversation.

"Yeah." She replied. "I'm going to do a report on my homeland, Germany."

"So you're from Germany?"

Asuka nodded. "Yeah didn't you hear Hikari?" Shinji shook his head. "Wow what were you doing? Staring off into space?"

"Yeah I was." He replied. "I have a habit of thinking to much. I don't know when to stop sometimes."

Asuka nodded. "Yeah we all have a habit of doing that. It's just something we do." She said, "It's not all that bad of a habit you know. It just depends on what you are thinking about." She turned to Shinji and a small playful smile appeared on her lips. "So Shinji, what do you think about?"

He looked at her with a confused look on his face. It was clear he didn't know what she was trying to imply. "Nothing really. Just whatever I guess."

"You mean you don't think about girls or anything like that?"

Shinji shook his head, but as he thought about it he remembered his stare at Asuka earlier he blushed lightly. "No, not particularly." He said quietly. "I'm not like that."

"You mean you don't think about them at all?" Asuka felt herself becoming a little worried. Maybe there was a reason he was so unperverted like toward her. Perhaps because he held a deep dark secret that was something the world wouldn't like. She was hoping that what she thought was wrong but she wasn't sure. Only one way to find out. "Shinji you're not gay are you?"

Shinji turned to her with a shocked look on his face. It was clear that the question was unexpected and caught him off guard. It took him a second to regain himself and say something. "No! Where did that come from?"

Asuka shrugged her shoulders. "You said you didn't think about girls, so hey you put it together."

"I just said I don't think about girls, I didn't say I didn't find them attractive." He replied. He found himself suddenly blushing. He wasn't used to talking about this and even the few times he did it always made him blush. He wasn't quite sure why, maybe it was because he was shy and just not used to it, but whatever the reason he never like these types of conversations. "Can we just talking about something else please?" he said turning his face away from her.

Asuka smirked. Oh she was going to have fun with this kid, but as she opened her mouth to press the subject she suddenly had a feeling that she shouldn't press it. She didn't know what it was but it was stopping her. She found herself suddenly fighting herself wondering whether she should press it. For some reason most of her didn't want to. She didn't know why. It was an immensely strong feeling that was telling her not to. She groaned inwardly as she fought with herself. Finally after several seconds of this she turned away from him and finished her food.

A short silence passed between the two until Asuka turned to Shinji again and asked, "Hey, you wouldn't mind working with me on the project would you?"

Shinji turned to her, surprised. Apparently he didn't expect her to ask for his help, that and the sudden change in subjects surprised him somewhat. "Sure Asuka." He replied.

"Good" She said. "I don't know anyone else at this school and I don't feel much like doing this project on my own. So thanks."

Shinji merely nodded and finished his lunch. "Hey where did you want to go do this project at?" He asked. "Do you want to do it at the library or one of our houses?"

Asuka shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really care either." She took a bite of the chicken and rice Shinji had given her and as she went down for another bite her fork hit plastic. She looked down to find that she had eaten it all. A saddened look appeared on her face. _Dang had I known that was the last bit I would've savored it more_. She thought before crumpling the bowl up and tossing it into the trash can. She growled inwardly when it missed and was forced to get up.

Tossing the bowl in the trash and walking back she asked, "Hey Shinji do you have a computer?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, I dropped it and it just suddenly stopped working."

"Dang. Ok then we'll go over to my house and do it. I'm sure Misato won't mind if I borrow hers." She said.

"Ok. So I'll go home with you after school tomorrow then?" He asked.

Asuka nodded. "And don't you dare get any funny ideas when the two of us are alone." She said giving him a slight glare. "Misato only has a break long enough to pick us up after school so we'll be alone when we do this. You dare try something and you'll die."

Shinji looked up at Asuka a look of some fear in his eyes. He didn't expect that kind of thing to come out of the girl. "O-ok." Was all he could get out.

"Good." She said. Just then the lunch bell rang. Signaling the end of lunch. "Hey Shinji I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait aren't you coming back to class?" He asked.

Asuka shook her head. "No, I don't feel like it much today. See ya." With that she stood up and began walking away.

"How will you get home?" He asked.

Stopping and turning to him she replied. "I'll be back after school so Misato can pick me up. Alright see ya." She said and continued walking.

"Bye." Shinji replied before getting up himself and heading back to class. _I guess she really doesn't like the school_. He thought and entered the school doors, a chill running down him as the cold wind blew on him. _I hate this door._

**Finally this chapter is done! Sorry it took me so long to get this out but its hard for me to have people meet each other sometimes, so I think this chapter sucks. Especially where I ended it….alright I'll try to get the next one out fast. Please read and review! Don't forget I don't mind constructive criticism! **


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